Charger and battery incident

[Nathanial]

About 10 minutes ago, I was checking up on my two charging 18650 batteries (AW Red IMR) and noticed a high pitched noise. I quickly unplugged the charger and removed the batteries. As I did a quick inspection of the batteries, I noticed an 'off' smell to them. I went an investigated the charger and the charger reeks of this almost burned smell. Obviously, I won't be using the batteries or the charger, but I was just curious about what you guys might think happened, and what I could do to possibly prevent it in the future?

I've had the batteries, and charger, since December.

I just checked out the charger, and the base is still very warm.

 

[Retriever]

Sounds like you might have received a bad charger. Pila is generally recognized as one of the best, and they I think you can find them over at Provape. I wouldn't use that charger or the batteries. Good luck.

 

[Nathanial]

Sounds like you might have received a bad charger. Pila is generally recognized as one of the best, and they I think you can find them over at Provape. I wouldn't use that charger or the batteries. Good luck.

Thanks. I'll probably pick up the Pila at the beginning of next month. For now I'll just head down to Kalamazoo Vapor and pick up a couple of more batteries and a basic charger to get me by.

What do you think was actually happening to the batteries though? It kinda makes me nervous now, lol
I'm just glad I've been careful about my charging habbits (unplug the charger if I leave the house, and I never sleep with the batteries charging, etc)

 

[zoiDman]

...

What do you think was actually happening to the batteries though? It kinda makes me nervous now, lol
I'm just glad I've been careful about my charging habbits (unplug the charger if I leave the house, and I never sleep with the batteries charging, etc)

It's Very Hard to say.

It could have been the Batteries that caused the Charger to fail. Or it could have been the Charger, more likely, that caused the batteries to fail.

Either way, you'r doing the right thing by not Fooling around with them. Replace everything and you will have more peace of mind.

BTW - This is why I Charge Batteries in a Glass Baking pan. I used to have the Charger on my desk atop papers and whatever. I just the Only worse thing I could have done is put Oily Rags next to it.

 

[Codrut Popescu]

I am not an expert but for a couple of days I m informing myself on batteries/charges. The PILA charges at 600mAh for ALL cells. This is okay for 18650 batteries, which are large, but certainly not for all cell types. Many people praise Pila for being the perfect charger (in this money range). But it is not. Please remember that Pila is officially supported to charge only Pila cells. Another issue, the AW IMR cells (LiMn) have a lower internal resistance than regular Li-Ion 3.7V cells and they might end up with a higher ending voltage when charged. Please check the voltage of the cells after finished charging. This must NOT be higher than 4.2 V. You must get a DMM, even a cheap one will do, a vaper without a DMM is like a doctor without a stethoscope.

 

[markfm]

I recently picked up an xtar wp2 II. Price is decent, it definitely lets you select a lower mA max charge rate for smaller batteries, charge mechanism is at least close to nominal ideal.

Then again, I've been happy with my tr001 for the past year

 

[Codrut Popescu]

About TrustFire TR-001, I have disassembled my TR-001 as I have bought a hobby charger and this is how it looks like:



You may draw the conclusion yourself. Please notice that it is not me who bended the PCB. I have started to develop a phobia of Chinese stuff. But maybe it's just me.

What I am using now is a "hobby charger" used by model constructors, a Pro-TRonik AP6BLC, which is not well known on the market as it is a French brand but there are many other hobby chargers available. The disadvantage of these hobby chargers is that you have to make the connection to the batteries yourself. I am modifying the TR-001 to use it only as a battery cradle and I will connect this to the hobby charger. In this configuration I have complete control.

 

[Neon]

For what its worth, my TR-001 charger makes a high pitch sound when charging but you can only notice it when close by. No problems charging though, no heat.

 

[Codrut Popescu]

For what its worth, my TR-001 charger makes a high pitch sound when charging but you can only notice it when close by. No problems charging though, no heat.

My TR-001 also had this noise. It seems to be the expected behavior, it is due to the transformer and the AC -> DC conversion.

However the TR-001 has other problems. It is overcharging a little, it cuts the charging (LED turns green) at 4.24 - 4.25 V instead of 4.2 V sharp. This is not really a problem but it worth checking with a voltmeter if yours is charging more. Another issue is that it tickle charge, which means that after cutting the charging and the LED turns green it continues to slightly charge at 40 mAh. This is not a problem if you leave the battery for only a few hours in the charger after the LED turned green, but if you leave it long enough it will overcharge the battery.

 

[markfm]

Cpf had a good review on the wp2 ii. At end of charge, the residual trickle was 0.1mA, close enough to "off" for practical purposes. If power is disconnected from the charger, the drain on the batteries is 0.5 mA, practical to use a timer if you want to; you would only lose 5 mAh of capacity if the charger was deenergized for 10 hours before you got around to pulling the batteries.

 

[Stubby]

I am not an expert but for a couple of days I m informing myself on batteries/charges. The PILA charges at 600mAh for ALL cells. This is okay for 18650 batteries, which are large, but certainly not for all cell types. Many people praise Pila for being the perfect charger (in this money range). But it is not. Please remember that Pila is officially supported to charge only Pila cells. Another issue, the AW IMR cells (LiMn) have a lower internal resistance than regular Li-Ion 3.7V cells and they might end up with a higher ending voltage when charged. Please check the voltage of the cells after finished charging. This must NOT be higher than 4.2 V. You must get a DMM, even a cheap one will do, a vaper without a DMM is like a doctor without a stethoscope.

You may want to read this thread

Is it okay to use AW 14500 IMR in Pila charger?

This Pila is just fine with AW IMR 14500. I do it all the time and there is no heat issues and the charge is spot on. It is well within the limits of safety for the batteries. I have read elsewhere that 600 mAh is about the smallest you want to go with the Pila but it is certainly not in the danger zone, or even close to it. It's within the recommended range which is likely on the conservative side. The resistance is not a problem as the charger stops when it reaches the correct voltage so it doesn't matter if it is IMR or IC (AW's protected 14500). You will get the exact voltage reading for both types after charging.